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Bailey didn’t jump to her feet as he’d expected. She crouched, planted her palms on the floor, twisted her hips, and swiped out a leg … taking Dayna’s own legs out from under her in a smooth, superfast move that the pallas cat stood no chance of evading.
Bailey snatched Dayna’s stiletto off her foot and rammed the heel right into the feline’s thigh. Dayna all-out wailed in pain.
Deke winced. “Fucking Jesus. Wasn’t expecting that.”
Beside him, Tate grunted. “Your mamba always does something in a fight that I don’t see coming.”
Her jaw clenched, Dayna kicked out at Bailey with her other leg, making her rear backwards to avoid the spiked heel. Dayna then leaped to her feet. So did his mamba.
“Finish the little hoe bag, Bailey!” Aspen shouted. “Stop playing with her!”
His woman sighed at the bearcat. “You always want to spoil my fun.” Refocusing on Dayna, she twisted her mouth. “Another person would advise you not to fuck with them again. But me? I personally will welcome any future challenge from you. So keep ’em coming. They’ll all end the same way, of course. You’ll lose in a spectacular fashion. But it’s the participation that counts, I think.” She lunged, shifting in mere milliseconds.
Her snake dove between Dayna’s legs, sprung up behind her, and coiled around the feline’s body superfast—pinning her arms to her sides. The hissing mamba then bit into the unswollen side of Dayna’s face.
Many of the crowd sucked in a breath while others chuckled. Deke exhaled a sigh of relief, glad it was over; tired of watching his woman take blow after blow.
A cursing Dayna stumbled around, striving to free herself from the serpent’s hold—to absolutely no avail. Soon enough, her struggles weakened and her steps slowed.
Apparently satisfied that her foe was no longer a threat, the snake unwound her slim, gunmetal-colored body from Dayna as she slid down to the floor. Dayna dropped to her knees, swaying and mumbling as Gerard and Therese rushed to her side. The mamba paid them no attention; she slithered over to Deke and began to climb his body.
At one point, such a thing would have made him tense. Not now. She was his, just like Bailey.
Once she’d twined the lower half of her slender body around his arm, she settled the rest of her weight over his shoulder. Deke reached up and gave her coffin-shaped head a brief stroke.
“Aw, how cute,” said Bree, her lips curled.
“You could have stopped it!” Gerard shouted at Tate, crouched beside Dayna. “You saw that Bailey was playing with her. You saw the extent of her wounds. You did nothing.”
Tate frowned at him. “Interfering in a fight between shifters is simply not done—you know that. You wouldn’t have wanted me to do it if Bailey was losing.”
Gerard gestured at Dayna, who was now unconscious. “Look at her, she’s a mess!”
Havana sighed. “She’s also being healed by Helena as we speak. Don’t be so dramatic.”
Standing, he slammed his gaze on Deke. “This is your fault. All you had to do was give Dayna ten minutes of your time. Then there would have been no fight.”
Bailey’s snake hissed at the other male in warning—a move as protective as it was territorial.
Gerard froze, his mouth snapping shut. Well, no one wanted veins full of venom, did they?
Deke met the mamba’s gaze. “You gonna shift back?” She flicked out her tongue and settled her head on his shoulder. “That’s a no, I take it. Stay still while Sam heals you, then.”
He thought she might ignore him, but though she watched the healer with her unblinking stare, she didn’t make any aggressive moves when he rested his hand on the lower half of her body.
“She’ll need to shift,” said Luke. “You can’t walk down the street with her like that.”
True. But no amount of urging from anyone—or even orders from Tate—made the snake budge an inch, let alone subside.
Havana snickered, amused. “You might as well give up. She’s in protective mode. She won’t shift until she’s sure Deke is in a place of safety.”
“It’s kind of sweet,” said Aspen.
Luke rubbed at his nape. “Meet me in the back alley, D. I’ll bring a car around and then drive you back to your complex.”
Tate nodded. “We’ll take care of this situation. Go. Get her out of here before she goes for Gerard’s throat.”
Happy to leave, Deke gave a curt nod and accepted Bailey’s purse and balled-up clothes from Blair.
When he slid into a car a short time later, the mamba didn’t alter her position, so he had to be careful not to hurt her with the seatbelt. It wasn’t until he was in his apartment that she moved. Having slithered down to the floor, she shifted in a flash.
Standing a mere foot away, Bailey stared at him, her gaze inscrutable. “You mad at me for hurting her?” Her tone was carefully neutral.
